Discover How Nerves Translate Different Types of Touch Sensations [Slide Show]

The nerves in our body specialize in sensing particular touches but work together to create our rich tactile experiences

VIBRATION: As you chat with friends at a rustic restaurant, the table you are sitting at wobbles underneath your elbows. This vibration compresses and releases the layers of tiny onion-shaped sensors embedded within your skin, triggering an electrical signal that moves through the A-beta fibers to which they are attached... Credit: iStockphoto
MOVEMENT: Making cake can get messy, and one of your mixing bowls has become coated in chocolate. When you walk across the kitchen with the greasy bowl, the motion of the metal sliding across your skin stimulates sensors specialized for picking up movement... Credit: iStockphoto
INDENTATION: Cozy in your lap, your cat stretches itself out as you read. Although your eyes are on your book, you are well aware that your cat has not budged, in part because of sensors in your skin that react to indentation... Credit: iStockphoto
STRETCH: It is the bottom of the ninth inning of a baseball game on a muggy mid-July afternoon and your team has just hit a walk-off home run. As you jump to your feet to cheer, specialized sensors respond to the stretching of the skin on the backs of your bare thighs as they peel off the seat... Credit: iStockphoto
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MOVEMENT OF LONG HAIRS: As you stand on the shore, a salty-smelling breeze whips the hair on your head in various directions. Wrapped around the base of each hair is a ring-shaped sensor that detects the hair's movement... Credit: iStockphoto
MOVEMENT OF SHORT HAIRS (UNPLEASANT): A grasshopper creeps through the short hairs on your forearm. Some of the sensors at the base of short hairs, such as those on your arms, are concentrated on one side of the hairfollicles... iStockphoto
MOVEMENT OF SHORT HAIRS (PLEASANT) AND TEMPERATURE: After a long day at work, your significant other reaches out to wrap you in a hug. C fibers carry information about both the movement of fine hairs on your back and shoulders and the comforting warmth of your partner's hands from your skin to your brain, helping you to relax... Credit: iStockphoto

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